Biere de Garde: Jenlain Blonde

Here’s a beer I got at the Leclerc supermarket just because it was something new. It’s one of the French beers they’ve got there, but it proved not to be really something I like.

• Name: Jenlain Blonde
• Brewery: Brasserie Duyck
• City: Jenlain
• Country: France

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect of this beer when I got it. Moreover, I didn’t have any idea what biere de garde even means. So, after googling it, I found out that these are basically beers which are matures for a period of time.

Ok, this out of the way then. Jenlain Blonde pours with a hazy amber/golden color and is topped with a thin white head. It has a sweet, malty aroma along with some fruity smell. The taste is sweet and fruity at the start, perhaps also slightly yeasty, followed by a medium bitterness and an off-putting metallic flavour, as well asthe  too obvious alcohol taste.

Beers like this are not really something I adore. I mean, it has the potential to be a very pleasant drink, but not for me. Well, I give it a try, but it’ just another beer in the coolection (not a spelling mistake).

• Style: Biere de Garde
• ABV: 7,5%
• Ingredients: water, barley malt, wheat, hops

RATINGS

• Appearance: 3,4 / 5
• Smell: 3,5 / 5
• Taste: 2 / 5
• Overall: 2 / 5

Argentina’s Favorite Beer: Quilmes Cristal

Today, here is another beer from South America, this time from Argentina. The country that gave the world Messi, Maradona, and several others, is also the home of one very fine beer.

• Name: Quilmes Cristal
• Brewery: Cerveceria y Malteria Quilmes
• City: Buenos Aires
• Country: Argentina

Quilmes looks like just another one in the line of lagers – with its golden color and a finger of white foamy head. The aroma is faint and neutral, altough you can smell some maltiness as well as some grains. The taste is pleasantly refreshing and smooth. Although it is slightly watery, it still offers enough taste, whihc is sweet and grainy with a slightly bitter finish. The aftertaste is mild and pleasantly bitter/sweet.

What to say about Quilmes at the end. It doesn’t seem like anything special, it’s similar to other lagers, but at the same time, it’s slightly better than most of these other lagers. A very nice beer that will get you through a hot summer’s day. Although you will probably need a couple of them, not just one.

• Style: Pale Lager
• ABV: 4,9%
• Ingredients: water, barley malt, adjunct, hops

RATINGS

• Appearance: 4 / 5
• Smell: 3,5 / 5
• Taste: 3,5 / 5
• Overall: 3,5 / 5

The Chinese: Yanjing 12° Premium Extra

I haven’t been to China yet, but luckily, we do have a couple of Chinese restaurants around, where you can easily get some of their beers. This is just one of them, that was pretty easy to get some time back, but I haven’t seen it quite for a while now.

• Name: Yanjing 12° Premium Extra
• Brewery: Beijing Yanjing Brewery Co.
• City: Beijing
• Country: China

This Chinese lager is supposedly one of the better-known Chinsese beers. It pours out with a very light yellow/golden color (similar to pi**) and is, like many other lagers, topped with a one finger of white foamy head which dissipates quickly. The smell is very faint. There are only weak aromas of grains and malt. The taste follows the nose. Not the best one around. It’s faint and watery taste is almost non-present, you can only taste some sweetness and some grains.

I really hope this beer is not among the best ones that China has to offer. I mean, it’s not offensive or disgusting, it’s just that there is nothing really there. That’s it.

• Style: Pale Lager
• ABV: 4,3%
• Ingredients: water, barley malt, hops, rice

RATINGS

• Appearance: 2,5 / 5
• Smell: 3 / 5
• Taste: 2 / 5
• Overall: 2 / 5

A Finnish Bear: Karhu A

Today’s beer was brought to me by a friend’s friend straight from it’s land of origin – Fnland. The name Karhu, as you can see in the title, translates as bear from Finnish.

• Name: Karhu A
• Brewery: Oy Sinebrychoff Ab
• City: Kerava
• Country: Finland

The label A suggest that this bear is the strongest in its breed, with 5,3% of alcohol. The color is clear and golden, and the foam topping it is very weak (less than a finger) and even this settles down to almost nothing quite fast. The smell is almost non-existant, save for the very weak aroma of malts. The taste is malty with the addition of pleasant hoppy bitterness, and the mild aftertaste.

There is nothing special about Karhu, but it still makes a pretty decent refreshment. But as the Finnish beers go, I had several much better than this one. So when I finally take a trip to Finland, I’ll make do with other beers they have to offer (most probably).

• Style: Pale Lager
• ABV: 5,3%
• Ingredients: water, barley malt, starch, hops

RATINGS

• Appearance: 3 / 5
• Smell: 3 / 5
• Taste: 3,5 / 5
• Overall: 3,5 / 5

A Wild Animal: Badger Original Ale

I remember getting this beer during my stay in London, just before continuing my way to the scenic Scotland. Nothing special about it, but hey, it’s a badger.

• Name: Badger Original Ale
• Brewery: Hall & Woodhouse Ltd.
• City: Blandford St. Mary
• Country: England

According to the back of the label, Badger is a classic English country ale, which is an ideal complement to traditional English stews and pies. Hmm, maybe I should try it in this combination the next time. But otherwise, it pours with a dark amber color and a very decent foamy head, slowly settling down. The smell is mild, fruity and malty. The taste is initially sweet (fruity) and malty, slowly changing to bitter finish. The aftertaste is equally bitter, but still in reasonable measures.

Although a decent ale, still not really something I would prefer, at least not too often.

• Style: English Pale Ale
• ABV: 3,8%
• Ingredients: water, barley malt, hops

RATINGS

• Appearance: 4 / 5
• Smell: 4 / 5
• Taste: 2,5 / 5
• Overall: 3 / 5

Classic German: Veltins Pilsener

I knew Germany produces a great number of beers, but still I couldn’t quite believe the numbers I found online. More than 5000 beer brands are produced in around 1300 breweries all around Germany. Impressive, I must say. So today’s beer is just one of these 5000, but it’s a very nice one, although I haven’t had it for quite a while now.

• Name: Veltins Pilsener
• Brewery: Brauerei C. & A. Veltins GmbH & Co.
• City: Meschede-Grevenstein
• Country: Germany

Veltins pours with a typical golden color and a hefty white head with a good retention. The aroma is very subtle – you can smell some grains along with the malty aroma. The taste is light and slightly watery. It’s not sweet, but it starts with a medium bitterness and also finishes on the bitter side. Light, refreshing, pleasant and drinkable.

• Style: Pilsener
• ABV: 4,8%
• Ingredients: water, malt, hops, yeast

RATINGS

• Appearance: 4,5 / 5
• Smell: 3,5 / 5
• Taste: 4 / 5
• Overall: 4 / 5

The Dark Spaniard: Mahou Negra

Today, another beer from my awesome (beer-wise and otherwise) Spanish holidays.

• Name: Mahou Negra
• Brewery: Mahou S.A. (Grupo Mahou – San Miguel)
• City: Madrid
• City: Spain

As the name already points out, this beer pour out of the bottle with a dark brown, almost black color. The head topping the glass has a tan color and is quickly settling. The moderate aroma of roasted barley is complemented by coffee and caramel. The taste is nothing out of the ordinary for dark beers. Sweetnes upfront, followed by roasted malts and bitterness. There is also a faint taste of coffee, and all together finishes with a decent, although not too strong bitterness.

A pretty strainghtforward dark beer. Smooth and tasty, but otherwise ordinary. Still worth a try.

• Style: Dunkel
• ABV: 5,5%
• Ingredients: water, barley malt, corn, hops

RATINGS

• Appearance: 4 / 5
• Smell: 4 / 5
• Taste: 3 / 5
• Overall: 3 / 5

Pop!: Grolsch Premium Pilsner

Pop goes Grolsch! Although Grolsch is most famous because of its swingtop lid, it has to be admitted we’re dealing with one of the better (mainstream) Dutch beers out there.

• Name: Grolsch Premium Pilsner
• Brewery: Grolsch Bierbrouwerij (SABMiller)
• City: Boekelo
• Country: Netherlands

Grolsch is characterized by a clear, golden color and complemented by a very decent white, foamy head that settles down quite fast. The aroma that fills your nose after popping the lid can be described as a faint combination of sweetness, grains and grassy hops. The taste is exactly as the nose suggests. A mixture of bitterness, at first, followed by the sweetness thanks to the malts. The aftertaste following the mild taste is slightly bitter, in a pleasant way of course.

Grolsch is a very pleasant and decent pilsener. It’s smooth and easy to drinks, but at the same time nothing that will make you say “Wow!” But nonetheless, it’s a nice substitute for some other (more famous) mainstream lagers out there.

• Style: Pilsener
• ABV: 5%
• Ingredients: water, barley malt, hops

RATINGS

• Appearance: 4 / 5
• Smell: 4 / 5
• Taste: 3,5 / 5
• Overall: 3,5 / 5

The Tasmanian Devil: James Boag’s Premium Lager

Tasmania… the home of the crazy Tasmanian Devil (do you remember Looney Tunes), but also the home of this, to me so far unfamiliar, beer.

• Name: James Boag’s Premium Lager
• Brewery: J. Boag & Son Brewing
• City: Launceston
• Country: Australia

Boag’s is an Australian lager which has all the characteristics of a typical lager. It has a golden color and a finger of white foamy head. The nose picks up a slighty malty smell together with a great amount of grainy aroma. The taste is expected as well. Light, sweet, malty and slightly grainy. The finish is mildly bitter and hoppy.

It’s a very drinkable and refreshing lager. Nothing amazing about it, but also nothing terrible about it. Basically, a lager nothing out of the ordinary. Expect that it’s Tasmania’s finest.

• Style: Pale Lager
• ABV: 5%
• Ingredients: water, hops, yeast, barley malt

RATINGS

• Appearance: 4 / 5
• Smell: 3 / 5
• Taste: 3 / 5
• Overall: 3 / 5

The Beery Beer: Puntigamer

The Austrian beer brand Puntigamer originates just north of Slovenia-Austria border, so it was pretty easy to get, since I often made short trips to our northern neighbour. Puntigamer is advertised as das “bierige” Bier, the translation of which is stated in the title. So let’s see if it’s true.

• Name: Puntigamer
• Brewery: Brauerei Puntigam (Brau Union)
• City: Graz
• Country: Austria

Puntigamer presents itself with a clear, golden color, topped by a finger of white foamy head which dies down pretty quickly. There is not much to say about the smell, thanks to the average and weak grainy aroma. The taste is in accordance with the smell. A weak and watery taste, where you can fell the sweetness of the malts. The necessary bitterness is sadly missed – it could do with more hops.

All in all, a pretty average lager, although very popular. Austria has several better beers to offer, so don’t linger too long around Puntigamer. Give it a try, it’s a decent refreshment, but move on soon.

• Style: Pale Lager
• ABV: 5,1%
• Ingredients: water, barley malt, hops

RATINGS

• Appearance: 4 / 5
• Smell: 3 / 5
• Taste: 2,5 / 5
• Overall: 3 / 5